Preparations and Weddings 19
by AnnKa
Summary: After being officially engaged Emily and Derek now have a wedding to worry about, including all the crazy preparations. Not to mention that Declan has to face a hard day in his life and JJ will have some changes in her life, but at the end everything will turn out okay, right?
1. Overwhelmed

Another part of the sequence of stories I'm posting. The stories can stand for themselves, but still belong all together.

Thanks to REIDFANATIC and lovelover7891 for Beta Reading and the great advice.

Also thanks to all the lovely people, who leave me reviews every week. I really appreciate them and try to take them into account. One of them asked if there is going to be a wedding and I think I won't spoil the surprise by telling you the wedding will be posted on their wedding day (10/16/2012). So there will be another part next week and then on the 16th.

Criminal Minds is not mine (or Emily would still be there).

Overwhelmed

Emily smiled while leading Fran into the great hall where she had been told she would find her mother and friend. She knew the day would be stressful; after picking up her future mother-in-law, seating charts, programs, and flower arrangements were awaiting her, not even to mention trying at least three meal combinations and whatever else Elizabeth or Garcia would come up with. It had been a relief talking to Fran for the past hour since the woman seemed to understand that there were other things out there than the wedding. For the first time in weeks she had been able to just talk about a bad book she had recently read and the fact that Declan was improving on his language skills in school.

But the happy moment ended when she entered the big room and took in her surroundings. Her smile fell as she took in the bright red roses that were set on a table in four different arrangements.

"Emily what do you think?" Her mother hurried over, not even acknowledging Fran. "We were thinking this is the best way to place the tables, but of course now we have to change the seating charts." The older woman handed her a stack of papers, while her daughter looked at her with wide eyes. "I already started."

"You must be Mrs. Morgan. It's a pleasure to finally meet you." Elizabeth moved on, guiding the other mother to the table with the flower arrangements. "Miss Garcia and I were thinking the second one, but maybe you have a different perspective on this. You know after working on this all day we really don't know what we are thinking anymore."

Emily stared blankly at the back of her mother, taking in the sweet laugh that followed. The real world had hit her in just that instance. She sank on one of the chairs, getting a glance at the arrangement her mother was talking about. Something Emily didn't want on any of her tables, but she had given up on arguing a long time ago, because neither her mother nor Pen would listen to her. She flipped through the first few pages, realizing that the list of guests had gone from 200 to 250 by now, adding another 50 names she didn't recognize. Her eyes then fell on a seating chart her mother had started to fill out. Thanks to the red marker she soon knew where she, Derek and the kids would be sitting, but then she didn't find many names that look familiar to her. All the tables around her own were filled with names that seemed to be important, as she had heard them before, but she couldn't put a single face to them.

"Mother, where are you planning on seating my friends?"

"I believe table 12 and 13 would be appropriate."

Emily looked back at the map and swallowed. The two tables her mother had just named were placed far in the back and she would probably not be able to see her friends all night long. She sighed trying to keep her frustration down and not fall back into fighting mode with her mother. She flipped to the next pages showing a humongous cake. "Chocolate Cake with Marzipan," she read to herself, her eyes wandering between the picture and the ingredients.

"What happened to the cake we decided on last week?"

Her mother turned: "I talked to a few people and it turns out chocolate is more popular with our guests." She smiled, before giving her attention back to Fran and the flowers.

"E, I was thinking we could have a laser show instead of the fireworks. I always wanted to do that." Garcia had made her way through the room to meet her.

"A laser show?" Emily didn't even listen to her friend's explanation but wandered further into the room, taking in all the arrangements that had been made while she had been gone. The more she looked at it the less she could find what she had actually chosen. The colors she had decided on as a twelve-year-old, mint green, a soft violet and white were completely replaced with pompous colors, red and gold – probably the choice of her mother. She came to a table where the programs rested, printed on the paper she had disliked from the first moment she saw them, but she smiled anyway and grabbed one to look at the small picture they had chosen to print inside, but when she opened the program, it was just another disappointment. There were two new pictures: still Derek and her, but rather than being together, they were in separate pictures. She took a deep breath so she wouldn't explode in the same instance as her eyes wandered over the page.

"October 20th, 2012" She had to say the words to herself to believe what she just read.

"Mother?" She slowly turned, hoping that the printer had made a mistake.

"Yes dear."

"These programs say the wedding is on October 20th, 2012." She was sure that she saw a bit of guilt on the older woman's face and knew immediately that it was not the printer who had switched the date.

"The 20th gives us almost a week more for arrangements, the band we wanted was not available on the original date, not to mention that a lot more people are available to come on that Saturday than on a Tuesday."

Emily stared at her. Her frustration was at such a point that she didn't even seem to be able to yell at her mother anymore. Her eyes went back to the piece of paper in her hands. Derek smiling at her would usually calm her down, but in this moment it didn't do any good. It just made her sad. Their big day had been transformed into a public event where everything mattered but her own wishes. At first, she had tried to ignore the fact by agreeing to move from the garden to the hall she didn't really like, but enough was enough.

"She is okay with the laser show by the way." As much as Emily loved her friend, she had to hold unto herself to not rip her into pieces. Garcia's timing couldn't have been any worse. The bride-to-be let go of the paper in her hand, not caring where it would go.

"Honey you are ruining that. We don't have many extras."

Emily couldn't have cared any less. She silently took a few steps back to where the group was standing.

"I assume the invitations are send out by now? Saying I'm getting married at the 20th?"

"Of course," her mother looked at her irritated. "The wedding is in two weeks."

"Well I guess you will have to call a lot of people and tell them there will be no wedding on the 20th."

"E, why are you saying that?" Garcia moved closer with wide eyes.

"Because on my wedding, I will have my friends sitting right by me. My wedding will be in the back yard. The cake will be strawberry, and these ridiculous pieces of paper..." she waved over to where the programs were placed, "…will be replaced by the ones Derek and I choose, there will be a firework show..." she glanced over at her friend, who opened her mouth to respond, but simply shook her head: "…I don't want to hear it Garcia, if you want a laser show go ahead and accept Kevin's proposal." She then faced her mother again, not able to stop herself from raising her voice on the last sentence: "But most importantly, I am getting married on October 16th and I don't care what your guests think about it, because it is MY wedding and we didn't just choose a date based on who can come or not."

Silence had fallen on the group, Elizabeth and Garcia were shocked by the outburst, while Fran just wasn't sure of what to say.

"If you'll excuse me now."

With that she walked past the women and left the room. She didn't really realize where she was going until she steered her car back into her own driveway. Then she followed her instinct, ran upstairs grabbing a big bag, and grabbed clothes for Derek and her that seemed appropriate for her plan, before heading to the kids' rooms and then doing the same. Within ten minutes, she was back out of the house heading to the schools. She was just done talking to the secretary when her phone rang. She rolled her eyes as she saw Derek's name. It had taken him excessively long to call.

"What's up?" She asked innocently while signing a few papers to release Declan.

_"That's what I'm asking you. Penelope just called me in tears, saying you yelled at them that the wedding is off, then run out and now won't answer your phone."_

Emily sighed, turning away from the secretary with a smile.

"I will explain that later. Can you get the weekend off?"

_"Why?"_

"I'm just getting the kids and will leave town for the weekend. If you are coming I will pick you up, if not I guess I see you Sunday night."

_"That bad, huh?"_ She smiled at his interpretation of her words.

"Are you coming?"

_"Sure. It's supposed to be our weekend off anyway and the paperwork won't run away."_

"Good, I will be at Quantico in about forty minutes." She made out Declan walking down the hall and waved at him. "Oh and you might want to call your mom, tell her I didn't mean to offend her. She had nothing to do with this, but happened to be in the middle of it."

_"Okay?" _Confusion was clearly in his voice.

"I will explain later. Declan just came out."

_"I love you."_

"I love you too." She shut her phone and gave the secretary her thanks before she put an arm around her son guiding him out of the school.

"So you still love him, that's a good sign."

Emily glanced at the boy not sure what he meant.

"Last time you pulled something like this off I had to live with your parents for a week." He clarified. She smiled, shaking her head at his detective work.

"We'll just go to the cabin for the weekend and you are certainly not going to see my mother there, or I might lose it."

He grinned: "Did you finally tell them that you don't like masses of roses?"

She nodded slowly not wanting to go into too much detail.

"Did you also mention that the hall makes everything look like a funeral?" His face was so serious that she couldn't help herself to start laughing.

"You are definitely my son." She finally replied, giving him a squeeze.

They had reached the elementary school that was only a short walking distance from the Middle School. Minutes later, they left with a very excited and noisy five year old. With both kids buckled in she made her way out of the town to Quantico to pick up Derek. Not wanting to risk running into Garcia she simply called him to announce her arrival. She then turned to listen to her children discuss their favorite teachers. Finally, Morgan made his way to the car and they were ready to leave.

For the three-hour drive to the cabin, Morgan was doing his best to keep Annie busy, as the little girl got bored fast after her brother decided he'd rather listen to his iPod than her. He kept her busy with little games, until she finally napped off. When she didn't respond anymore he sank into his seat.

"I sent JJ to your mother's place to help my mom to fix what our two crazy ladies did." He still had no idea what had outraged her that much that they were leaving town, but he assumed that Fran would need some help to work through it.

"There is not much to fix. The wedding they are planning is not going to happen." He glanced over at her, not sure what she meant by that.

"They changed everything Derek. There is not one piece of the wedding left that either of us had in mind." She sighed pulling into a small road winding up into the woods. "And the worst part is that they don't even purposely try to ruin the wedding, it's just who they are."

He smiled as she was trying to defend her mother and Garcia although she had been so ticked off about them a few hours before. Now that they had reached the wood's it only took them a few more minutes until they got to the little cabin.

"You never told me about this."

"You never asked." She smirked, before getting out of the car. She went to the back to grab the bag she had filled with their clothes and a few toys for Annie as well as the book Declan was reading.

"Can you take Annie?" She looked over the car to Derek.

"No need for that." He grinned pointing to the door that just opened revealing a bright awake girl taking in her surroundings. Declan was already out of the other door heading towards the trees.

"I wanna come Declan." Annie jumped to the ground and run after her brother.

"Declan, I want you to stay close enough to the cabin that I can hear you yelling."

"No fun." He turned glaring at his mother.

"Sorry, I just have the wrong job to set you free." She half apologized but didn't change her mind.

She closed the trunk and then headed to the cabin, Derek right behind her. Inside the air was horrible, since nobody had aired the rooms in a while. She sighed and let the bag fall on the couch, starting to open the windows.

"We used to come up whenever we were in DC in the summer." She started to explain the place, turning from the kitchen window to where she thought he was standing. She yelped when he was standing right in front of her though. His toothy grin widened as he wrapped his arms around her.

"Sometime after this wedding we should come here without the kids."

"What good would that be?" She asked with a grin growing on her lips.

"Well..." He leaned in to place a soft kiss on her lips. "I'm pretty sure we can think of something."

She shook her head in amusement, before she wrapped her arms around his neck to pull him closer to kiss him again. They deepened their kiss as his tongue started to explore her mouth. Finally, he took a step away while taking a deep breath. "I'm afraid we need to save this for our honeymoon."

She shook her head again, before grabbing his hands with hers. "You still want to know what made me blow up?"

He pulled one of her hands up to his lips before turning it and placing a light kiss on her palm. "You mean besides spending hours, no days with your mom? What would that be?"

"The programs said the wedding was on October 20th. She changed my wedding day to some random day because more of her stupid politician friends can come on that day."

Derek stared at her quietly taking in the information she had just provided him. He had a few comments on his lips but none of them could fully cover everything he wanted to say. Lastly, he just pulled her into a hug.

"You know being gone for the weekend seems really good about right now."

She smiled against his shoulder.

"Anyway, I don't know about you but I'm getting married on that Tuesday and I really don't care what her friends think about it." She looked up at him after saying those words. "All I need is you and those kids out there."

He smiled kissing her temple before letting go of her. "I'm pretty sure Mama and JJ will fix most of those issues. Mama knows why we chose the date, in fact she kind of gave me the idea, and JJ should know most of our decoration and food choices, so does Garcia if she is not getting carried away." His finger ran over her cheek: "So I think I will just lean back and forget about it for the next two days. In fact whoever mentions the word wedding in the next two days should pay 5 bucks into Declan's college fund."


	2. Bittersweet Day

Thanks to REIDFANATIC and lovelover7891 for Beta Reading and the great advice.

Also thanks to all the lovely people, who leave me reviews every week. I really appreciate them and try to take them into account. One of them asked if there is going to be a wedding and I think I won't spoil the surprise by telling you the wedding will be posted on their wedding day (10/16/2012). So there will be another part next week and then on the 16th.

Criminal Minds is not mine (or Emily would still be there).

Bittersweet Day

Although it was supposed to be the happiest day of her life, Emily wasn't sure what her feelings were telling her. Of course she was happy to finally marry the man who people would call the love of her life, and who happened to be her best friend as well. But the reason for her mixed feelings was her son, who had been acting strangely over the last few days and had not yet recovered. She was already in her underskirt and otherwise covered by her morning robe when Derek walked in.

"You are not supposed to see the bride." Garcia hurried between the couple.

"She doesn't have her dress on." He responded dryly. "Could you locate the phone that goes with this number?" He handed his friend a piece of paper knowing that she would have her laptop with her.

"What's wrong?" Emily had escaped the shield and walked the few steps to her fiancé. He was already dressed in his fancy black suit and she couldn't help but smile over that. Neither of them was particularly known for fancy outfits, maybe elegant, but usually not in the elaborate style her mother had insisted on for the wedding.

"Nothing, probably."

She didn't like the way he said that and tried to figure out what the combination of a phone number and his being so serious could possibly mean. She raised her eyebrow to show him that she was not buying the lame excuse. His hands caught hers.

"Just don't freak out."

She squeezed her eyes together not sure where he was going to go with that. "Don't tell me that the team has a case."

"The team doesn't have a case."

"So?"

"We are not exactly sure where Declan is right now."

"What are you saying?"

"He is nowhere to be found. I already checked your place too. The phone number is his."

Emily stared at him. Her thoughts were racing and the mother-worry mode kicked in immediately.

"He could just be on a bike ride or something." His trying of calming her down was not having much of an effect.

"Three hours before my wedding?"

He shrugged, knowing that it was not very realistic.

"The phone is in a cemetery." The sound of her voice reminded the couple that Garcia was still in the room looking up from her laptop in this instance.

"I will get him. You get ready." Derek was about to leave, when Emily shook her head.

"I need to go. This is my fault." She grabbed the first T-Shirt that came into her hand and then hurried to the dresser where her pants had ended up. Both her fiancé and bridesmaid stared at her in horror.

"Em, we only have three hours to fix your hair, makeup, put the dress on. Why are you undressing yourself?" Garcia jumped up from her seat trying to stop her. Her eyes darted to Derek begging him for help, since JJ had left a few minutes ago to check something outside.

"I forgot what day it is."

"October 16, your wedding day honey."

Emily shook her head, pulling the underskirt off, now that she was wearing pants again. For lack of shoes she slipped into the heels she was supposed to wear for the ceremony. She was halfway out the door when she remembered her future husband and turned. When she saw his face her heart almost broke again. He had put a supportive smile in place, but she could see in his eyes that he was far from actually accepting the fact that Doyle would be interfering on his wedding day.

"I'm so sorry." She walked back over to him, placing her hands on his cheeks caressing them.

"I know."

"I will be back in time, I promise, but…" She stopped when she saw the pain in his eyes that he was desperately trying to hide from her.

"Declan needs you, so just go." Emily stared at him for another moment, before he removed her hands from his cheeks, not before giving each hand a soft kiss. She kissed his cheek before hurrying out of the room.

"She can't just leave. Go after her. You should get Declan. She needs to get ready." Penelope stared at her best friend, who was not moving.

"Babygirl, I think she is right. We all forgot what day it is."

"Your wedding day."

"The day Declan's father was shot in front of him." Derek glanced over at his best friend. Her face fell at his words. He wasn't happy about the fact that Doyle still was influencing his life, in fact it made him rather furious, but he knew how hard it was to see his father die. He knew that Declan needed his mother right now and by the end of the day he would have the assurance of having her for the rest of their lives.

Emily was almost in her car, when her eyes set on the flowerbed. As always at the sight of the lilac flowers the memories flashed over her, but she blinked them away. She left her car door open and ran over ripping a few of the flowers out. She didn't care much what her mother or her friends would think, she just did.

"Emily, where are you going?" The bride looked up just to find her best friend running to her. She could immediately see the worried look on her face.

"Did you ever hear the reason why we are getting married today?" She knew there was no running away from JJ; she had only been able to escape Penelope because Derek had been there, so she dragged her behind her to the car.

"No, but you have three hours until the wedding ceremony and believe me, this is not a good moment for whatever you are planning on doing."

"It is the day I came back. The day Derek and I got a second chance." Emily blinked to avoid the tears from falling.

"I like that. But why are you leaving."

"It was also the day when Declan lost his father."

The blonde stared at her trying to take in what she had just heard. She sighed when Emily lost the fight against her tears. They all had their soft spots; had lost people over the last years.

"I didn't even think about it. Declan had been acting odd the last few days, but he wouldn't talk to me. I guess he didn't want to ruin my wedding or my birthday. Derek just told me that he is not here and Pen located his phone in a cemetery. "

JJ nodded slowly, before moving to the open car door. "You shouldn't be driving while crying; you are going to kill yourself. I'll drive."

Emily only took a moment to stare at the pregnant woman, before hurrying around the car and getting in. It wasn't a long drive and she was able to bring herself under control by the time they reached the parking lot.

"I'll wait here."

JJ wasn't sure if her friend had even heard her, as she was running off into the fenced area. Nobody besides Declan and her and, for the past few months, Derek, had known about the grave up until now. She had felt guilty towards her team for giving her 'murderer' a proper burial, but when it came to Declan and Lauren then that was the least she could do. As she came closer she could see a small figure sitting in front of the grave and she was pretty sure that it was her son.

She slowed down not sure what to say. When she finally reached the grave, she couldn't help but stare at it.

"Ian Doyle, loving father," had been the only thing she could engrave on the stone without lying. If there was anything good about him then it was that he had loved his son. She walked past the boy and carefully placed the flowers on the head stone, before she stepped back again and sank into the grass next to Declan.

"You shouldn't have come; it's your wedding day." He didn't sound convinced by his own words, but she could see guilt written all over his face.

She smiled sadly, placing her arm around his shoulder to pull him closer.

"I should have remembered. I'm sorry I didn't take you here."

"It's okay."

Now Emily shook her head. "No it's not. He is your father and nothing is going to change that."

"But he tried to kill you."

She glanced over at the teenager. She had told him most of the story, leaving things out only when it had gotten too painful.

"You know, he only did that because he thought I had killed you." He kept staring at the headstone, not responding to what she had just said.

"You are the one person that he loved with all his heart and that is the one thing that will always connect me with him. He was a very bad man, but when it comes to you then all he did was to protect you."

"He loved you too. I don't remember much, but he was different when you were around. That's why I wanted you to stay."

She swallowed hard when she took in his words. It was so hard to keep the differences between her and Lauren straight. Deep inside she knew that a huge part of her had been very much in love with Ian, but the circumstances were not meant to be.

"I'm sorry things aren't different." Her voice was quiet and she was afraid it would break, while the silent tears travelled down her cheeks.

"Don't be." It was the first time he looked at her since she had arrived. "Things are great. Tom is awesome and Derek is too. And I have a sister now." He smiled at her. "And you are my mom anyway. So it worked out, didn't it?"

She shook her head with an amused smile. "You should know that Derek is willing to adopt you just like he did with Annie." She said softly. The couple had been talking about it especially with the wedding coming up and their daughter's paperwork being signed. She knew that her boys were close, but they hadn't been sure how to bring the topic up.

"Do I have to change my last name again?"

She laughed at the little thing he was worrying about.

"Not if you don't want to. I will be Emily Prentiss-Morgan and at work probably even Agent Prentiss, so it doesn't really matter what your last name is."

"Well then, I think it would be nice if Derek adopted me. We will be a real family then."

She smiled, pulling him closer to her. "Yes a real family."

"But no more kids. Annie is fun but babies are stupid."

"Hey now." The mother and son jumped at the sound of the female voice behind them. JJ had approached them silently, as the time was moving quickly and there was still a wedding to attend. "Babies are great." She smile and pointed at her growing belly.

Emily laughed while she got up, wiping the tears off her cheek. "No babies Declan. I can promise you that. There is no way in heck I'm going through pregnancy." She held out her hand to help him up. "But I guess this is my cue that I need to get back to that wedding. For some reason they won't start without the bride and I think you have some responsibilities as best man."


	3. 16 October 2012

OMG, I almost forgot. I was super busy today, but it's still the 16th so here at is.

I dedicate this to all the awesome people who are still ready and given feedback, and of course my awesome betas. There was a total of three involved in this and they were all the best. So please enjoy their big day with our cute couple. There will be an epilogue coming next week and then check out the Halloween drabble for Annie.

16 October 2012

Emily had hurried back to her mother's house, but still the time hadn't been long enough for all the things on the to-do list. Her hair didn't look anything like the picture, Garcia had been stuck on the make-up a long time before she was satisfied, but the bride couldn't care less. The best had been done in the amount of time that was left and that was good enough to her. She was now standing in the living room, a safe distance from the window so nobody could see her, but she could still hear the music.

"Are you ready Pumpkin?"

She smiled and turned to her father. The crème colored fabric mobbed over the floor as she made a few steps towards him. Her smile was all the answer he needed.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Make it fast. Everyone is seated and your mom is going to have a heart attack if we don't follow the schedule." He grinned.

"What did you tell Derek? You know that night you first met him and were telling me that my heart made the right decision."

She looked at him, curious to know what his answer would be. In fact, she had wanted to know the answer since the day she had witnessed the small exchange, but had never come around to ask either of them. Howard smiled as he saw the curiosity spread in his daughter's eyes just as it had when she was a little girl.

"I told him to not throw away what the two of you have and that I'm going to find him if he ever even thinks about hurting my little girl."

"How did you know? I didn't even know then." She asked sheepishly.

He smiled, taking her hand in his as the music started. "A lot happened in your life that made you build this large wall around you."

He guided her towards the door, lowering his voice. She could see Derek at the very end of the chairs, beaming at her.

"You putting your guard down says a lot about how you feel. You trusted him with your life and he was willing to forgive you. The rest was just a guess on my side." He smirked: "A good guess you have to admit."

She looked at him as they reached the last row of chairs. JJ and Fran had been able to negotiate with Elizabeth and Garcia pointing out a few of the things the couple had wanted versus what had been prepared. At the end, even the Ambassador had to admit that it now looked a lot more like her daughter's wedding. Emily's eyes wandered from her father over the rows. While she hardly recognized anyone in the last few rows, the front held all the people she loved. The team occupied one side, besides JJ and Penelope, who had already taken their positions as bridesmaids. Declan stood between her fiancé and Reid with a huge grin on his lips. Her little girl sat on Fran's lap, still throwing some of her last flowers towards the front.

She swallowed when she got close enough to realize that not only Garcia and JJ, who had her pregnancy hormones as an excuse, but also the Morgan sisters, Fran, and to her surprise Elizabeth, were shedding tears.

Finally, they stopped in front of Derek. Howard turned to hug her, holding her for a moment.

"It took you a while, but you found your way and I'm proud of you. I love you Pumpkin." He said, but his words were quiet enough that only she could hear them.

"I love you too, Daddy." She whispered back, losing the fight against her own tears. "Great." She murmured, watching her father turning towards his future son-in-law.

"I already told you, I will find you if you hurt her, but since you followed my other advice I'm pretty sure we won't have that problem." The couple chuckled as Howard officially placed her hand into Derek's. "Just keep her away from trees." He smirked as he walked off to his seat, leaving the bride and groom to fight their urge to burst into laughter, while the rest of the guests hadn't heard the words, but simply waiting for the ceremony to start.

Derek reached for her other hand, nodding towards the official. Then his eyes went back to her and didn't leave her anymore. He had imagined a lot when first meeting her six years ago, but certainly not marrying her and having two wonderful children watch them. Again, he was thankful for that one moment a year ago when she had walked back into his life – a second chance he had never even dreamed of.

Emily smiled, still fighting the tears threatening to come down. Finally, she just gave up, as she figured that she could as well happily cry for once in her life. Nobody was going to see it as a weakness right now. Like her father had rightly observed - her shields were down and she was not about to change that. She was in love with her best friend, the one person she knew who would always have her back and wouldn't leave her alone no matter how stubborn she was.

The wedding vows came faster than she had expected and she suddenly realized that she had daydreamed through most of the speech.

"**I, Derek Morgan, take you, Emily Prentiss, to be my wife. I promise to be true to you in good times…"**

She followed with the same words, inserting the names in the opposite order, both of them sinking into memories while saying the words that would officially bind them forever.

_He watched her packing her bags while half considering inviting her to come with him to the nice beach house. He wasn't even sure why he wanted her to come, but he didn't feel like going through the pain of finding a woman for the weekend and afterwards getting rid of her. Emily was all he needed: a friend, who was fun to hang out with. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw JJ walking towards them._

"_Have a good weekend, JJ!"_

_His eyes widened when the blonde held up a file. He groaned when he heard her apology._

"_There goes my beach house rental."_

"_And my non-refundable Sin-To-Win Weekend in Atlantic City."_

_He glared at her as she added, curious what she was talking about. "Sin-To-Win?"_

_She didn't seem to want to explain herself, but gave him a smirk instead, before heading to the conference room. "Yup. And I always win BIG."_

_3_

_She had to admit winning against Reid had been almost as good as the planned weekend in Atlantic City. Almost. She smirked as she looked up from Reid to her other colleague._

"_Hey, Prentiss. 'Sin-To-Win?'"_

"_I'm sorry, what?"_

"_Come on now, I gotta know. What the heck is a Sin-To-Win Weekend in Atlantic City?"_

_She could hear in his tone that he was dying to know what she had been talking about, but there were things he had to figure out on his own. "Derek, I have a tremendous amount of respect for you, but there are some questions that, if you have to ask them, it means you probably couldn't handle the answer." She had gotten up to find some place in the plane where she could nap. While walking by she gave him another grin and patted his shoulder, almost apologizing. Almost._

"_There is a whole 'nother side to that woman." It had been very quiet, but she had still heard his words and smiled softly while sitting down at a different corner of the plane._

"…**and in bad,…"**

_The SUV skidded to a stop and he jumped out to make sure the shooter was dead or at least injured enough to stop what he was doing. Almost immediately, the sound of their boss's voice came to them._

"_You alright?"_

"_Yeah." He responded, too fast as he was about to discover._

"_No! Are you out of your mind? You blew out my eardrum!" For a moment he had been sure she would shoot him the next instant. Over the years, he had clearly forgotten how heated Emily could get, but at the same time, he didn't understand her. His shot had saved both of their lives._

"_What did you want me to do? He was coming right at us."_

"_I told you I had him!"_

"_He was shooting at us, Emily."_

"_Well, you could've given me a heads up!"_

"_What, a loaded MP5 and a shooting lunatic wasn't enough? Come on."_

He smiled at the memory. She had given him the cold shoulder for almost a week after that. He then added the next words to the vow.

"…**in sickness…"**

_He loved playing the little gambling machines, knowing to well that he was going to lose some money. The sound of the winning had him excited. He smiled as he won another round._

"_Morgan, can you…? Please, can you…? My head." Emily walked by him slightly tapping his shoulder. He had to admit she looked pretty bad, although he was not sure how she had gotten so drunk the night before._

"_My bad, sorry." He left the machine, grabbing his bag. Another look at his partner let him stop on his explanation on the psychology behind the slot machine. He grinned on her response to Rossi saying she hated Vegas, although not believing a word she said. He had seen with his own eyes how much fun she had had the night before._

_But there wasn't much time to argue as JJ approached them asking for Reid. He grinned as her eyes had wandered to the abandoned slot game._

"_Oh, this thing still has credit on it."_

"_JJ, I swear to God…"_

"_What?"_

_Derek had to try very hard to not burst into laughter, while Rossi informed the blonde with gestures what the situation was. He really needed to figure out, what had happened to his partner the night before, because this was certainly an interesting story and the information even better._

"…**and in health. …"**

She smiled as the words came over her lips and the memory, of the first time when she had seriously considered falling for him, came back.

_It had been a long night out on the streets. A combination of warning every homeless person and looking for the killer had been the impossible mission they were on. She had turned into autopilot repeating the same sentences again and again. When they had approached Mona, an old homeless lady she had listened to him repeating their warning. She couldn't help but smile herself about the positive attitude she still had despite her situation. Emily had almost been ready to let it go, when Derek spoke up again:_

"_Be careful, you hear me? This world needs all of its beautiful ladies and that means you, too, momma."_

_Mona wasn't the only one smiling as she walked away. In the middle of a hard case an honest smile came to Emily's own face._

"_You're a good guy," she offered, while turning to walk away._

"_Ya think?"_

"_Yeah," She looked over at him, still smiling: "you make the people around you feel good."_

"…**I will love you…"**

_Her eyes wandered from the new baby to the man holding the little guy. She had never given much of a thought towards Derek as a father but he certainly looked good with a baby in his arms. Emily smiled at JJ, while coming closer to get a look at little Henry. This was definitely one of the moments that made up for all the bad ones during work._

"_What's he doing? He's smiling at Derek Morgan." Amazement and pride were echoing in his voice._

"_Gas!" She smiled as Penelope offered the same word as she did. Babies were physically not able to smile that early, but she would have liked to believe that the little boy would smile at her partner. Again and again she discovered a new side on him._

"…**and honor you…"**

_That one short moment in the plane he had really thought he would fall for her. It had never happened though, as he reminded himself that she was way too good for him. His glance went over towards the young doctor._

_"You're thinking I'm sending her the wrong kind of message."_

_Reid hesitated for a moment then he straightened in his seat and pointed out,_

_"I've been noticing you two sitting next to each other in the round-table-room, I've seen her hanging around your desk and I realized that if I am noticing this stuff it must be pretty darn obvious, right?"_

_That caused him to chuckle and shake his head. _

_"Okay, well, you know kid, normally I would say, you got yourself a really good point there, but, trust me, Emily Prentiss is not the kind of girl who's interested in Derek Morgan."_

_"What? What kind of girl isn't interested in Derek Morgan!" Reid busted out, but thankfully still kept his voice down._

_Derek took a deep breath and said,_ _"The kind of girl who's way too smart to think she could change my ways. Everybody knows I'm not ready to get serious."_

_"Maybe you're a lot more ready than you realize." Reid pointed out._

_"Dr Reid, are you really trying to school me on females right now?"_

_At that Reid turned around, looking around the jet and at their colleagues, as if to make sure nobody else was listening, before he looked back at him and stated,_

_"My mother says girls can sense when a man is changing. When you are ready, certain types of girls, the right kind of girls, will find you." He paused and added,_ _"It's only when you're ready, though."_

"…**all the days of my life."**

"I now declare you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

Her cheeks were still wet from the tears as he gently brushed over them. He placed a soft kiss on her lips, before opening his eyes only inches away from her. The crowd applauded, but he was not ready to let the moment go.

"By the amount of tears you shed, people could think it is a horrible thing to marry me." He smirked at her. Emily raised an eyebrow, before smacking her hand against his shoulder.

"Ouch."

"You deserved that." She responded with a smirk, before capturing his lips again. "And now you can tell everyone that you have an abusive wife."

He laughed, pulling her into his arms, before turning towards their guests, wishing for this moment to never end.

Memories come from:

2.22 Homeless woman

5.20 Win-to-sin

5.19 shooting in car

4.07 Vegas, hangover

2.16 Too good


End file.
